Forgiveness
by LizzieStuck91
Summary: Sequel to Stress. Deidara has been found out and killed, leaving Sayuri behind. Can Naruto forgive the daughter of the man who killed Gaara and the woman he once loved when she's brought to Konoha? Being reworked/combined.
1. Death

_**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION BESIDES SAYURI**_

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Their house was aflame.

Deidara glared at the flames through tear-blurred vision, blaming them for ruining his and Sayuri's home, and clasped her small hand tightly in his. Their kekkei genkais recognized each other and closed.

"Surely the great Deidara isn't crying? You were an Akatsuki once, I thought they were supposed to be tough? Or are you just weak?"

The man who had done this was watching him, his expression amused.

He didn't know how he'd found him and his daughter, but he had, and had come upon their small cottage in the dead of night bearing a torch and lit it up brighter than the fireworks he made for celebrations.

"You and your Akatsuki friends were the cause of the destruction of Konoha and the deaths of the Jinchuriki, so why are you surprised this is happening?"

"Daddy? Daddy, what's he saying? Were you a bad guy?" Sayuri asked, thumb in mouth, because he couldn't bear to break her of that cute habit.

"A long time ago, baby. Before your mother and I even met, yeah." he told her softly. "I'm good now, don't let anyone tell you differently, yeah."

"Okay. Daddy, what are we going to do?"

"Yeah, Daddy, what _are_ you going to do? In a few minutes, you're going to be dead." the man said mockingly. He was clearly an ex-shinobi, judging from his muscled but not bulky build, and the sureness with which he held his katana. His face was scarred from temple to collar bone, probably a result of a sword wound. A light wind rose, giving more fuel to the fire destroying his and Sayuri's lives, and playing with the man's spiky silver locks.

Deidara's blue eyes locked with the man's brown.

"That's what you think. You're the one who will be dead, as surely as I was an Akatsuki member."

His opponent sneered.

"Oh, really? And if we happen to take your pretty daughter first?" he asked, disappearing before Deidara's eyes and reappearing behind him and Sayuri.

"I'll kill you before you get the chance, yeah," Deidara snarled.

"I don't think so."

Sayuri was gone from his grasp.

Deidara spun around, eyes flashing with anger, and saw that the man had taken Sayuri about ten feet from him and was holding the katana teasingly close to her neck.

"Bastard!" Deidara roared, his kekkei genkai devouring the clay he had in the pouch at his waist and spitting out his smaller, nimbler bird shaped creations.

They collided with the katana and were sliced in two but the distraction had been all Deidara needed. He rushed at the man, drawing out a golfball sized lump of clay from his pocket, and shoving it into the man's mouth even as the katana ran him through.

"Run, Sayuri." he commanded, hands forming the sign that would detonate the bomb.

She obeyed, getting just out of explosion range, to watch with horror as her father pulled himself off the katana and blew the man's head to pieces.

Deidara grinned weakly, clutching his stomach, where blood was leaking through his shirt.

Only a few seconds later, he fell to his knees then hit the ground, face first. Sayuri screamed, rushing over to him.

She flung her small body over his, holding him close as if losing him meant the loss of her grip on the world. Tears leaked out of her eyes, and plopped gently onto his back.

He turned his head to look at her, a small smile on his face.

"Sayuri..." his eyes were beginning to cloud over. "Go... to Konoha. Your mother..."

His eyes closed and his body was limp. Sayuri wailed and pounded his back with her small fists.

"Daddy? Daddy! Daddy, wake up! Wake up! Don't leave me!"

The stars were a silent witness to the little girl's grief, and could only look down as she cried over her father's corpse, begging him to wake up and smile for her just once more.

Her burning home lit their small front yard up like a beacon, attracting the attention of a ravenhaired man heading east along the road by their home.

---

Sayuri didn't look up from her father's body when the man approached.

She didn't look up when he gasped, and she didn't look up when he pulled lightly at her waistlength bubblegum pink locks.

She did look up when he spoke her mother's name.

"Sa...ku...ra?" the pale man was looking at her in shock, black eyes wide, mouth slightly open.

She shook her head.

"That's my... mommy." the tears were coming again.

"She had a child?" the man's voice was barely audible over the crackling flames that had nearly finished devouring her home. "Is that... your father?"

Sayuri nodded and moved so that he could see her father's face.

The man sucked in a tight breath, face suddenly angry.

"Deidara..." he spoke his name softly but with contempt. "I thought he died _years_ ago..."

"You... knew my mommy and daddy?"

"You could say that. What's your name?"

"Sayuri. Sayuri Haruno." she cocked her head quizzically. "What's your name?"

"Sasuke... Uchiha."

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**A/N: You guys wanted it, you got it. R&R because I'm still not sure where this is going. I only have a very vague idea.**


	2. Naruto

_**DISCLAIMER: NO, I DON'T OWN NARUTO. SAYURI BELONGS TO ME THOUGH, SO TAKE THAT.**_

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The weak sunlight could not penetrate the thick mat of clouds covering the sky like a steely gray blanket as Sasuke finally made it back to Konoha, carrying the sleeping Sayuri on his back.

It had been a tiring three day journey, but had he not carried her, it would have been longer. As it was, she had been a good passenger, hardly fidgeting and asking for nothing. When they'd stop for breaks or to rest for the night, she'd scavenged up food from the woods. It seemed to Sasuke that it paid to have a skilled shinobi for a father, no matter who he was.

The only difference he could see between Sakura and her daughter were the two small mouths on the palms of her hands, and unlike the ones on her father, they didn't disturb him, perhaps _because_ she didn't resemble her father physically -apart from the kekkei genkais.

She knew how to make her father's exploding creations as well even though she was only five. She had been trained well, but still hadn't quite mastered the technique.

And wouldn't, now that her father was dead.

He knew how she felt. His family had been killed before he'd acquired the sharingan, and Kakashi had had to instruct him in its usage, and Kakashi's own use of the sharingan had been limited because he wasn't a natural Uchiha.

After finding her, he had helped bury Deidara.

Out of sympathy for the small orphan crying over his body.

Out of respect for Sakura, because he knew she would have loved her daughter.

Out of penance, because he'd left Sakura and the village more than a decade ago and hadn't been there when she died, as Deidara was sure to have been.

But mostly because he knew what it felt like to have to bury the only family you had in the world.

After that, they hadn't lingered and had immediately set off for Konoha.

Shikamaru and Ino were watching the gate when he finally set foot on the paved road that led into and out of Konoha, where Sakura had tried so hard to stop his leaving all those years ago.

Both were gaping at the sight of the small girl on his back.

"Sasuke, she-" Ino's blue eyes were wide as she took in the pink hair and porcelain pale skin of the girl who was currently drooling on his shoulder.

"She's Sakura's daughter, yes." Sasuke said irritably. He hadn't rested much himself, unlike Sayuri, and was more tired than he was willing to let on. His arms ached from keeping her on his back and he hadn't slept much either, too afraid to let her out of his sight for fear of losing the last thing Sakura had left behind before she left this world.

"How? Sakura died five years ago..." Ino's voice trailed off as she began to piece two and two together. A moment later she gasped in shock as it finally hit her.

"Tsunade said Sakura and her child had died." Shikamaru said, taking a long drag on his cigarette. "Sakura died in childbirth, but the child, the child was said to have died from illness at three months of age. So Tsunade _lied_ for some reason."

"But why? It's her favorite student's child, why would-" Ino was cut off when Sasuke raised a hand.

"It's because Deidara was her father." he informed them calmly, shifting into a more comfortable position. Sayuri stirred briefly before her left hand came up and her thumb was placed into her mouth.

"Deidara? The _Akatsuki_ member? Sakura had sex with an _Akatsuki member?!_" Ino's voice was rising in pitch, and Shikamaru, still seated next to her, plugged his ears.

"Ino, _I_ thought Deidara was dead. He blew himself up during our fight, trying to kill me, and I thought he'd really _died_. Apparently, that wasn't the case." Sasuke glanced back at Sayuri who was contentedly sucking on her thumb.

"If she really is Deidara's daughter, I don't think Naruto will be happy to see her..." Ino was biting her lip so hard, Sasuke was surprised she hadn't drawn blood.

Both his eyes and Ino's were drawn to Hokage tower, where Naruto would be waiting for Sasuke to make his report on his mission.

After Pein's attack on the village, it had literally been leveled, and was only just now finishing reconstruction. Shikamaru had looked at the village's blueprints before the attack on a whim, to analyze the village's defensibility, and had had to redraw them. So though the buildings were new, they were the exact same ones that had been there when Sasuke left.

_She might be right... Deidara was one Akatsuki members who captured and killed Gaara before that woman from Sand -Chiyo, I think is what Naruto called her- healed him. Not only that, but Sakura as good as _betrayed_ Naruto by having sex with that same Akatsuki member._

Still... Sayuri had to be shown to Naruto, whether he would like it or not.

---

"Sasuke... What the hell is the meaning of this?" Naruto demanded, standing and placing his hands flat on his desk.

Sayuri's eyes widened and she hid behind Sasuke, clinging tightly to his pants, thumb in mouth once more.

"I _thought_ you might react like this." Sasuke sighed wearily, placing one hand on Sayuri's head reassuringly.

"You're saying I'm overreacting? She's the daughter of the bastard who-" Naruto's eyes were beginning to turn red.

"She's also the daughter of our best friend! Or have you forgotten that?" Sasuke snapped.

"What do you know of friendship, Sasuke? I waited for years for you to come back, tried countless times to bring you back myself, before I accepted the Hokage position." Naruto's voice was low but deadly, the very same tone he used when he spoke of Akatsuki.

"And you took me back without a word of complaint or reprimand, I might add!" Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Now Sakura's daughter returns after being gone for five years -which is a hell of a lot shorter of a time than I was gone- and you-"

"Will allow her to live here and enroll in the Academy next year, but I will not acknowledge her as Sakura's daughter." the coldness and finality in Naruto's voice ended the discussion. He turned away from the pair, a signal for them both to leave.

"Fine. She'll be staying with me then."

Naruto ignored him and continued to glare out the window at the setting sun.

"I thought you were a better man than this, Naruto. Taking it out on a little girl because you didn't like her father? That's not the Naruto I used to know. I guess Akatsuki left wounds you're keeping fresh." Sasuke placed a hand on Sayuri's back and gently led her to the room's entrance.

The door closed with a clack, leaving the Rokudaime Hokage alone in his office, a single tear sliding down his face.

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_**A/N: I thought this chapter was going to be a lot longer than the other one, but I was wrong.**_

_**Mean Naruto is no fun! But, after meeting Pein, I think he would be a little meaner, so that's how I'm writing him. He'll soften up.**_

_**R&R pleaseee!!**_


	3. Friends and Note

Author's Note: I am coming out of my hiatus now, and am going to redo stress and forgiveness. I already have a few ideas but I would like suggestions on the stories. Should I combine them? Should I make them longer? What do I need to work on? Things like that. Also, I'm closing the poll on my profile: my next story is going to be an itasaku. If you have any suggestions on that, review or PM me.

My next poll is going to be up after I get started on the ItaSaku and after I work on Slave's Revenge, Stress, and Forgiveness.

I'm thinking about doing another DeiSaku once I have all my stories wrapped up.

Here's what I had of the third chapter before I had to go on hiatus:

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Thunder crashed loudly, waking Sasuke from a sound sleep.

Disoriented, he sat up, squinting his eyes in the near darkness of his apartment. It was a large apartment, made up of two rooms: the kitchen/living/dining/bedroom and the bathroom, which he'd had tiled with white porcelain tiles, to make it easier to spot stains. Him being a shinobi, blood was a common problem after a mission, and he liked to be able to find it with ease. Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the empty couch.

"Not again," he groaned, flopping back into his pillows in defeat.

Sayuri had been with him for about 7 months now, and tomorrow was her entrance ceremony into the Acadamy. Only 3 months earlier on May 31st, she had had her sixth birthday. It had been a big deal for all of Sakura's old friends (excluding Naruto, who had turned down the party invitation but had sent Ino with his gift of a small fox statuette) but Sasuke had insisted on keeping the party small. Only Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, Tenten, Neji, and Lee had been invited. Sayuri was delighted though, because previously, her birthday party guests had consisted solely of her father.

Even though she'd been living there 7 months, it didn't mean he was used to her habit of sneaking out onto his balcony every time a thunderstorm hit. She liked to sit in his lawnchair (the one he'd placed on the balcony in the hopes of making it look more homey) and watch the lightning put fleeting white stripes across the dark clouds and listen to the thunder rumble loudly. After the fourth storm or so, he'd finally asked her why she did what she did and she replied that it was because it reminded her of her father's fireworks.

After that, Sasuke hadn't worried as much when he woke and saw the vacant couch, but if he woke during the storm and found her gone, he brought her inside because he didn't want her to get sick, or struck by lightning.

Sighing, he swung his legs out of bed and winced when his feet touched the icy floorboards.

The thunder rumbled again, low and deep, and reminded Sasuke of the time his brother had told him that thunder was the angels in heaven bowling and getting a strike. Sasuke had laughed at that, and especially when his mother had scolded Itachi for making up such silly stories. Itachi was probably watching him right now, smiling as he recalled the memory.

"I'm sorry, brother." Sasuke whispered, before crossing the apartment to the sliding glass doors that led to the balcony. "Sayuri," he slid the door open. "You need to come in."

A sleepy yawn told him Sayuri had fallen asleep in his chair again.

Sasuke smiled as Sayuri's green eyes opened halfway and she slowly withdrew her thumb from her mouth, then picked her up gently, the rain tapping him softly on his bare back.

"Sasuke?" she yawned again, and received a mouthful of rain. Sasuke chuckled as she spluttered, her eyes widening as far as they could, considering she was still half-asleep.

"Geez, Sayuri, you're gonna get sick." Sasuke informed her, exasperated. He stepped back into the apartment, dripping on the floor and not caring.

"No'm not." she protested sleepily as she was carried into the white bathroom and set down on the edge of the bathtub.

"Yes, you are. No arguing." he said firmly, grabbing a dark blue towel and rubbing her pink locks to dry them as much as possible. "You're completely soaked. Take off your clothes and I'll find you some dry ones."

Sasuke gave the little girl a smile as he left the bathroom.

She was as stubborn as her mother.

---

"Yaaah! Freak!"

"Loser! Go home, crybaby!"

"Waste of space!"

Sayuri stood, head tilted downward as she let the cruel words hit her and stick, fully believing they were true.

It was only her second day at school, and she already hated it. Her daddy had never said that her knowing how to do so much would make people hate her.

She sniffled, feeling tears coming and ran.

Cries of "You better run!" followed her as she sought sanctuary in a nearby tree, her chakra laden feet assisting her in the climb.

"How did you do that?" A curious voice asked from below.

Sayuri ceased her silent sobbing long enough to peek at the ground. Green eyes met lavender and she furrowed her brow in amazement. She had never seen anyone with eyes that color.

"Wh-What?" Sayuri wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. This boy—no—girl?—she wasn't sure, the hair was too long—didn't know how to use chakra to climb trees? She'd thought everyone knew how to do the treeclimbing exercise she'd mastered after watching her father. For days she had suffered from low chakra because she simply would not give up or take any hints from him. When she'd finally reached the treetop, she had refused to come down for hours. Her father had had to take her lunch.

"How'd you climb the tree without using hands? I thought only grownups knew how to do that." the boy-girl said, clearly tiring of this conversation.

Sayuri smiled, wiping away her tears.

"I could teach you." she told him/her.

"Really? That would be so awesome! Then I could show my father that I am just as much of a genius as he was!" the boy-girl said, face excited.

_Father..._

"I'm Sayuri. Sayuri Haruno."

"Natsuo Hyuga."

---

"So, Sayuri, did anything interesting happen at school today?"

It was a routine question, modified from his previous 'So, how was your day?' and Sayuri knew that Sasuke wasn't used to being a parent, even a foster one. The question was forced, almost rhetorical, but not to her, not today.

"I made a friend!" Sayuri replied enthusiastically, through a mouthful of noodles.

Sasuke looked surprised for a split second before he shaped his face into what she knew he thought to be a happy expression. Sasuke could never smile. It just didn't seem possible for him. She had asked Ino (one of the few who would babysit her) why Sasuke never looked happy, and Ino had replied that Sasuke had had many bad experiences before he adopted Sayuri, and that she thought he had probably forgotten how. Sayuri had since made it her goal to make the Uchiha smile a real smile, and not the fake ones that were similar to the ones Sai—another one of her babysitters—would give her when she was trying to get him in trouble with Sasuke.

Naruto was the other one who wouldn't smile. At least, not in front of Sayuri. According to everybody in the village, Naruto had used to always smile—or nearly always, he apparently hadn't had much to smile about before he started at the Academy, and Sayuri had yet to find out why—and still smiled a lot, especially when he escaped from his retainers to eat at Ichiraku.

Sayuri wasn't going to give up on making _him_ smile either.

Some of the jonin didn't seem to like her very much, and she knew it was because of her father, but she was proud to have been his daughter, and wasn't about to renounce him. Neji, though, liked her, and so did Shikamaru, Ino, Tenten, and Lee. Choji did, too, and was constantly slipping her snacks at recess, which she gladly ate in Konohamaru's class—he didn't approve of her eating, but she was the top of the class, so he was lenient with her.

"Really? Who? Is it someone I know?"

"Natsuo Hyuga."

Sasuke choked a bit on his own noodles before he recomposed himself.

"Neji Hyuga's son?"

"Yes, why?" Sayuri cocked her head, puzzled. She wasn't sure whether Sasuke was happy or angry with her for her choice of friends, but she knew that she liked Natsuo and she wasn't about to give up being his friend.

"It's a surprise, that's all. I never thought you two would hit it off." Sasuke gave her another Sai-smile, and she frowned.

The conversation died after that, and the rest of the meal continued in silence. Sayuri wasn't sure what to say and Sasuke wasn't a talkative person by nature, so him initiating another conversation was out of the question.

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A/N: So, review and tell me what you'd like to see in the redone versions and I'm going to get cracking on that ItaSaku. Until then, Ja ne!


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